formnext powered by tct and the Working Group Additive Manufacturing within Germany’s industry federation of mechanical engineers (VDMA) have just entered into a new partnership which will see the Working Group Additive Manufacturing serve as honorary formnext sponsor. This partnership will enable the mesago exhibition to further expand its expertise in specific areas of the relevant process chains in additive manufacturing and other cutting-edge industrial production technologies. This year’s exhibition is scheduled to take place on 14 – 17 November in Frankfurt am Main.

The key topic areas in this cooperation are to include various levels of training; knowledge transfer; and the advancement of technologies, application methods, and standards and norms.

“We’ve been in close contact with the Working Group Additive Manufacturing since 2015, and the in-depth discussions we’ve had have revealed a broad range of potential areas where we can collaborate,” reported Sascha F. Wenzler, Vice President formnext at event organizer Mesago Messe Frankfurt GmbH.

Among other topics, the new partners will be focusing on further efforts to promote the use of additive technologies in industrial production and develop new application areas.

“In formnext powered by tct, we’ll be working with the leading global platform where the world leaders in additive technologies and state-of- the-art production techniques come together with international decision- makers from a wide variety of user industries,” stated the Working Group Additive Manufacturing director Dr. Markus Heering.

For the members of the Working Group Additive Manufacturing and the VDMA at large, this sponsorship will present significant opportunities to develop and realize the additional potential afforded by these technologies, including in mechanical engineering and other fields.

formnext’s cooperation with the VDMA will already be on display at its 2017 event, where the Working Group Additive Manufacturing is planning to present prominent examples of additive manufacturing in action at its own booth. In doing so, it is hoping to leverage the exhibition as a chance to bring together potential users and development partners from various industries.